We in Albuquerque love our home teams. Whether it’s the Lobos’ football or basketball teams, or the Albuquerque Isotopes baseball team, we support them all. Through championship seasons and cringe-worthy seasons, we here in Lobo Land have stuck by our teams. Aside from team pride, there is another important reason to support our local teams: They help our local economy.

The University of New Mexico
That notion may seem like a stretch, but it’s not as far-fetched as it may seem. According to the University of New Mexico, sporting events brought in $49.8 million in total revenue during the 2009-2010 school year. Of this total number, $22.7 million directly impacted the local Albuquerque economy. Let’s take a look where those funds went to help the local economy:

• Roughly $4.1 million of the revenue was used to pay university employees at these events, thus supporting jobs
• $5.78 million came from tax revenue and went into the local budget
• $3.25 million was generated for local corporations
• $3.6 million was spent at local restaurants
• $1.8 million was spent at local retail shops
• $4.2 million was spent for local lodging

When looking at the overall numbers, slightly half of what the University of New Mexico generated from sporting events went directly back into the local economy. A lot of this income came from out-of-state visitors, but locals also deserve a big pat on the back for financially supporting UNM’s teams, too.

The Albuquerque Isotopes
The Albuquerque Isotopes also provide direct revenue to the city of Albuquerque in the form of an annual “rent” payment. This payment of between $1 million and $2 million, based on an income and revenue agreement, goes directly to the city. It not only repays Albuquerque for the reconstruction of the old Albuquerque Sports Stadium, but is also a return on the taxpayer’s investment.

The Impact You Have With Apparel
Finally, buying team merchandise can help the economy. If we buy our Lobo gear from the University of New Mexico bookstore, we keep our dollars right here in Albuquerque at UNM. There are also plenty of locally based stores that sell retro Albuquerque Dukes and current Albuquerque Isotopes apparel. Check out these local stores for all of your team gear and help the local economy at the same time.

Supporting Albuquerque’s teams has always been fun and exciting, but now you know that it’s also helping our local Albuquerque economy. So whether we’re cheering for a Mountain West Conference or Pacific Coast League Championship, we’re supporting our teams and our city.